In the beginning I bought complete firearms but quickly transitioned to assembling my own so that I a) would get the rifle set up exactly how I wanted it, and b) save a few bucks. Always trying to fill an unfillable hole lol. I own and have owned a lot of stuff, and these are just some general impressions.

PWS
these make great suppressor hosts. They're well gassed. They shine in a shorter barrel. The recoil impulse of the 14.5 and 16 inch versions is....odd. I loved my 11.5, my 16 I didn't keep very long but my son loves it. It vents barrel gas above the barrel, but you'd never know it because it doesn't make any extra work cleaning. If you're ok with the proprietary nature of the PWS action, they're a good value. Never experienced any sort of failure with one. Strictly a consumer rifle, they're never going to have any military contracts, if that's important to you (It is to me).

LWRC
The recoil impulse is a little more abrupt than the PWS. The ambi lower is excellent, even better than the LMT ambi. It vents barrel gas above the barrel right by the gas block, and makes for extra cleaning for the handguard and anything you have mounted to the rail near there. The handguard design reminds me of an aluminum screen door lol, but it beats having to remove the handguard to service the op rod and piston cup. Well gassed and a good suppressor host. Never experienced any sort of failure. My impression of the overall rifle is that it is comparatively light. I love their stock on paper, but in practice it doesn't shoulder well for me so I replaced it and the grip with my favorite BCM stuff. I love my LWRC Six8 and I wouldn't hesitate to own anything from them.

Larue
My Larue is one of three rifles I've owned that I shot a sub moa group at 100 yds when I zeroed the scope. Before their price increase, the cost of a Larue rifle made from their complete upper and one of their stripped lowers was a tremendous value IMO. I even like their furniture, the stock much more than the grip. This was the most aggressively overgassed AR I've ever owned, and it taught me how to properly compensate for that with buffer and spring. Heavier than a DI AR should be. Larue makes a very nice rifle, they just need a smaller gas port. Every AR I own has a Larue MBT.


Daniel Defense
I have two, a 16" 308 and a 14.5" 223. The 308 is one of three rifles I've owned that shot a sub moa group at 100 yds when I zeroed the scope. I've rang steel at 800 yds with this rifle, on a 1-6 that only has stadia to 600 yds. The 223 I just built last month, and it is by far the lightest AR I've ever handled. I trust the hell out of their barrels. I have mixed feelings about their furniture, but it is light af. My overall feeling about DD is you get one, and you're like where is all the money on this thing? They feel and look very standard and mil spec-y. Then you see the tiny groups they shoot, notice that the receivers fit perfectly, and are light af for class. They nail the important stuff, but there isn't anything superficial about them that will wow you. I own two and I will part with a gun I don't love without blinking, so that is my endorsement.


JP
I ordered a 20" 308 from them and put a 4-16 and a bipod on it. This rifle was immaculate and is one of the three rifles I've owned that shot a sub moa group at 100 yds when I zeroed the scope. It was big, it was heavy, and it shot like a laser. The big tank brake on it was ridiculous and would blow the sunglasses lenses out of your frames if you stood to the side of it during a trigger pull, but that barrel stayed super flat because of it. Nicest bcg I've ever handled. The captured buffer/spring setup worked and was silent. Everything about this gun was excellent, and I don't miss it one bit. If I needed a sniper rifle I can't think of a nicer pick, it just didn't fit what I needed or wanted. It went to a good home and my friend loves it.


LMT
This is the prize of my safe. I built a 14.5" piston using their shovelnose upper and their ambi lower. This rifle was built pretty far down my experience with ARs. The monolithic upper and barrel setup is perfection. The rifle ejects to 4 o'clock both unsuppressed and suppressed. Vents spent barrel gas back to the barrel, so no additional mess made by the gas system. Awesome suppressor host. The recoil impulse is not noticeably abrupt. The receiver fit, on every LMT receiver I've ever bought, is flawlessly perfect. Even their anodizing is the best I've ever seen. I think they bead blast their receivers with some micro media or something, and there is just a look and feel to them that is beautiful. I would trust my life to everything in my safe, and I would grab this one before any of the others. They're also in my home state, extra points for that. My only gripe is the ambi mag release. Tiny and surrounded by a lot of wall. I prefer their Defender lower with a JP ambi mag release and just sacrifice the ambi bolt release, but that's me.  They're heavy, I mean they're really heavy, and you won't even care. In my opinion they make the best AR in the world.


Caracal
I wanted to scratch a 416 itch, didn't want the consumer HK, didn't want a POF, and was thinking about a Brownells kit. Then I ran into the Caracal, and when I saw the price for their complete upper with my LE/mil discount, I got one. What a great decision that was. I love this thing. Like the LMT it vents back to the barrel, and also like the LMT the recoil impulse doesn't make you notice it. Gassed a little more aggressively suppressed, but that's ok it'll run dirty under hard use. Awesome suppressor host. Heavy but not quite LMT heavy. The overall fit and feel of the Caracal is not as luxurious as the LMT, machine marks on the bcg and more generic finishing, but the overall handling and shooting impressions are that this is a serious, trust your life to it rifle. It's a keeper.


Spike's
The only rifle I ever sold that I regretted afterwards was a Spike's quad rail I built last year, so I just made up for that mistake and built myself a new one, outfitted more to my liking. Spike's stuff is kind of low dough, and their receiver logos are mostly cringe, but they run as well as any trust your life to it AR that I've handled. I would place them firmly in the Colt/BCM camp quality-wise. I think they're underrated. The Spike's quad rail is almost mlok light.


Centurion
Just got it haven't shot it yet. Initial impressions are very solid. Excellent receiver fit and finish. Maybe the best looking quad rail period. We'll find out at the range, but my first impressions are that this is a serious rifle capable of hard use. This is definitely a rifle that has more of a military than consumer pedigree, and I probably would have built more than one if I had known about Centurion earlier than I did. You can build one that costs closer to a Spike's than an LMT, and if it shoots as good as it looks it's going to be a tremendous value. Great people to deal with and always quick to respond to an email, so A+ for service. High hopes for this one, looking forward to a warmer day so I can take it out.


I never post much beyond an lol here and there in GD. Here's some opinions, take them for what they're worth. Happy New Year guys.

Nice write up.
Always good to hear from the actual owners of these fancy guns!
Happy New Year to you too.

Mil-spec-y

Good feedback!

Using extra-heavy buffers and springs is not the way to "properly compensate" for an over-gassed barrel.  The proper way is to fix the problem at the gas port or buy a new barrel that is properly ported.

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fixed it

Thanks for the great post. It’s refreshing hearing reviews from people with experience with products versus the typical repeating of things that people read on the World Wide Web.

got the Centurion put together this morning, pics of it and the Spike's updated in OP

I love some Centurion barrels, rails etc. Excellent kit. Same with DD.

Good write-up with some good take aways. Particularly Mil-spec-y and cringy. Lol

the new Spike's is amazing. So light, handles like a dream. The only gripe I have against Spike's is a loose receiver to receiver fit, but a nylon puck in the lower fixes that and I think they are amazing at the price.

The Centurion.......out of the mail the parts are very impressive. Like closer to LMT quality than the BCM price they get for their stuff. Well, at least with an LE/mil discount, I suppose they're a little higher without. Anyway, took it to the range and the second or third pull had a ftf. I was poleaxed because I had never had any kind of malfunction in a small frame ar before. So I shot it a few more pulls, noted the ejection seemed weak, hoped it wasn't a gas key leak, and my feeling was that it was too heavily damped and couldn't cycle. Ejector checked out.

I have a mix of piston and DI, and I always go with a Sprinco blue and an H2. Pistons needs that, and most DI uppers do because they're overgased so they don't have to spend all day every day walking through people on the phone who are having trouble running Tula. I put a carbine buffer in the Centurion and went back to the range, and sure enough that seemed to be the issue. It ran mostly flawless, but I did have 1 failure to feed and 1 failure to lock back on empty. I have a standard carbine spring in the mail today and I bet when I go to the range next the Centurion will be perfect.

The Centurion is not overgased like every other DI upper I've ever had. A standard spring and buffer is what it took to make mine run the way it should. Therefore, if you're a DI guy that shoots suppressed and don't plan on adding an adjustable gas block, the Centurion would probably prove a friendlier suppressor host than most. My $.02

also, both have FN chrome lined CHF barrels, and both demonstrated excellent combat accuracy when zeroing the optics. The groups I shot with both were moa with a flyer each group that made them solid sub 2 moa shooters shooting groups unmagnified with EOTechs. That with vanilla Hornady 55gr FMJ.

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14.5" barrels with unmagnified optics shooting groups at 100 yds
sorry, not everyone is a renowned arfcom sniper like molon

Don't claim that your rifles are shooting MOA when they're really shooting 2 MOA and people wouldn't have to point out your retarded post.

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re-read this exchange and tell me which of us made themselves look like a giant dickhole. (Hint: it wasn't me.)

Thanks for your feedback molon, have a great weekend.

Thanks for posting. Surprised to not also see a Geissele rifle in there.

USPS just lost the new Centurion barrel I sent out for pin & weld. They better pay up on the claim.

Hopefully you have the original receipt for the barrel, otherwise USPS will refuse to pay up, no matter how much you paid to have it insured.

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Yep. If you don't have an original receipt, they won't pay. Printed email receipts don't count. USPS insurance is a scam. Never buy it.

I get fighting fire with fire, and no one disputes your contributions to these discussions, but you are better than that.